There are two ways of breaking open a football game: String together a few solid gains for a scoring drive, or get to the end zone in just one play.

Paint Valley used both approaches in its 21-0 victory against Williamsburg on Friday night in a game where the offenses struggled early.

During the first 15:30, the only significant offensive play was a run of more than 60 yards by Williamsburg, which would have put the Wildcats near the Bearcats' 5-yard line. It would have, that is, if not for a block in the back penalty that negated all but 4 yards of the play and killed the drive.

Williamsburg had another chance early in the second quarter when Paint Valley's Mason McCloy fumbled after an 11-yard gain, giving the Wildcats the ball in Bearcats territory. However, Williamsburg moved backward on the drive, and the ensuing punt gave Paint Valley good field position.

The Bearcats took advantage.

Quarterback Anthony McFadden connected with Payton Adkins for 29 yards, which was followed by a 25-yard run from Teagan McFadden and an 18-yard run by Anthony McFadden to get the Bearcats down to Williamsburg's 7-yard line. Three plays later, while facing fourth-and-inches near the goal line, the left side of the Bearcats' line got a good push and Caleb Johnson barreled into the end zone for the game's first score.

Williamsburg took to the air with about a minute left in the first half, but its four consecutive pass plays would prove costly. After the Wildcats turned the ball over on downs, Anthony McFadden threw a screen pass to Teagan McFadden, who found a seam and made a nice cutback around the Wildcats' 15 en route to a touchdown seconds before intermission. A two-point conversion pass to McCloy made it 14-0 in favor of Paint Valley at the break.

For all intents and purposes, the Bearcats put the game away on their first possession of the second half. A series of runs eventually brought Paint Valley to Williamsburg's 39, and a bubble screen from Anthony McFadden to Teagan McFadden resulted in the Bearcats' final touchdown. Teagan McFadden broke a number of arm tackles on the play and received a solid block from Tony Hatfield.

From there, Paint Valley's defense made Williamsburg work for every yard. The Bearcats kept the Wildcats from getting their initial first down of the second half until early in the fourth quarter, and the Bearcats' offense used the ground game to work the clock.

Penalties played a factor beyond the long run that Williamsburg had called back in the first quarter. Field position was dramatically effected twice on special teams in the first half when Paint Valley saw a benefit from flags thrown against them. In one case, Williamsburg chose to have Paint Valley re-kick a punt that would have seen the Wildcats take possession at their own 26; the re-kick ended up being downed inside their own 10. In another instance, a kickoff that went out of bounds would have given Williamsburg the ball at its own 35, but the return man was dropped at his own 17 on the re-kick.

The big plays on screen passes resulted in balanced run/pass numbers for Paint Valley. The Bearcats had 152 yards on the ground, and Anthony McFadden was 7-for-13 for 154 yards. Teagan McFadden had 66 yards on eight carries and nearly 100 yards receiving on the two passes.

Defensively, the Bearcats limited Williamsburg to 116 yards of offense in the shutout.

Paint Valley (1-1) now will prepare for its final nonleague game next Friday at Minford.